Apparatus for snugging track suspended sliding doors



Dec. 2, 1969 FERR|$ 3,481,078 1 APPARATUS FOR SNUGGING TRACK SUSPENDED SLIDING DOORS Filed Feb. 18, 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 R- G. FERRIS 3,481,078

APPARATUS FOR SNUGGING TRACK SUSPENDED SLIDING DOORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 W I mm lrlllumllll s N "a a! 0g N Q me Dec. 2, 1969 Filed Feb. 18, 1969 w: W WN g} United States Patent 3,481,078 APPARATUS FOR SNUGGING TRACK SUSPENDED SLIDING DOORS Robert G. Ferris, Harvard, Ill., assignor to Starline, Inc., a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 18, 1969, Ser. No. 800,120 Int. Cl. E05d /10 US. Cl. 49-209 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for snugging track-suspended sliding doors of structures in which a pair of snugger rods, one on a sliding door and another on another part of the structure, are mounted in generally upright positions where they are adjacent one another when the door is closed, and a connector which is preferably flexible has attaching means at its ends which slidably connect it to the rods, one of the attaching means being detachable from a rod. At least one of the rods is inclined to the vertical at an angle such that gravitational force on the connector and attaching means first slides down on the rods to draw them taut between the rods and thus snug the door against the structure, and then holds them down. Such apparatus may snug adjacent ends of two sliding doors against one another, or may snug the other ends of the doors against the structure; or may snug both ends of a single sliding door against the structure.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many farm buildings, industrial storage buildings and garages are provided with track hung sliding doors that have exposed vertical and horizontal frame members facing the interior of the structure, and metal or wood sheathing secured to the outer faces of the frame members. The structure may have either a single sliding door or double sliding doors which close against one another in the middle of the doorway. It is necessary, of course, that there be a reasonable clearance between the inner face of the framing of such a door and the outer surface of the adjacent building wall in order that the door may move freely without interference between the door and the building wall. As a result, when the doors are closed there is an undesirable amount of space between the doors and the door frame, and the doors may swing considerably out from the door frame at their lower ends in certain wind conditions. In addition, there is no satisfactory way to pull the adjacent ends of a pair of sliding doors together when the doors are closed.

Insofar as applicant is aware, theer has hitherto been no simple and relatively inexpensive device for snugging sliding doors of the above described type against a structure on which they are mounted, or for snugging a pair of sliding doors against one another when they are closed. Hooks and eyes or ropes have, of course, been used to pull a pair of sliding doors together when they are closed, but the hook and eye must have sufficient clearance for engaging the hook in the eye, so the doors are not really tight together when the hook and eye are engaged, and in the case of ropes wrapped around handles on the doors "ice or the like the ropes can loosen if the doors are shaken by wind. It is likely that some people have also used chains or ropes to snug the edge portions of sliding doors against the door framing when the doors are closed by fastening them around nails or studs; but this has the same disadvantages that it does where a similar arrangement is used to pull a pair of sliding doors together.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, a pair of snugger rods consisting of first and second rods are mounted, respectively, upon a sliding door and upon part of a structure which the first rod is adjacent when the door is closed. That part of the structure may be the other one of a paid of sliding doors, or it may be a fixed part of the structure if there is only a single sliding door or if the outer end of the double sliding door is to be snug against the door frame. In any case, both snugger rods are mounted in a generally upright position, and either one or both of them is inclined to the vertical so that the lower ends of the rods are farther apart than are their upper ends. A flexible connector such as a chain or cable is long er than the distance between the upper ends of the rods but shorter than the distance between the lower ends of the rods, and attaching members on the ends of the flexible member are connected slidably to the two rods. At least one of the attaching members is a hook which may be readily disengaged from the rod on which it is hooked. The other attaching member preferably is a closed ring or link.

When a door is closed and is to be snugged against an adjacent part of the structure, the flexible connector is manually moved to the upper end of the rod to which it is permanently attached, and the hook on the free end of the connector is engaged with the upper end of the other rod. The angle of inclination between the two rods is such that the force of gravity first pulls the flexible connector and attaching members downwardly on the rods until the connector and attaching members are taut between the rods to snug the door against the adjacent part of the structure, and then holds them down. Thus any shaking of the door or doors in a heavy wind only tends to cause the flexible connector to slide further down on the rods, so that the snugger is essentially windproof and generally self-adjusting.

A snugger rod may be of small enough diameter that the brackets for holding it can fit on the framing of a sliding door without projecting over the inner face of the framing. L-shaped brackets for mounting the rods are so arranged that if two brackets are mounted in vertically spaced relationship upon or abutting a vertical door frame member they support a rod carried by them at a desired angle to the vertical. An angle of 6 for one rod, or an included angle of 12 if both rods are inclined from the vertical, is satisfactory for operation of the snugger.

A principal object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a simple and rugged device for snugging a trackhung sliding door against a part of a structure on which the door is hung when the door is closed.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a snugger which may be mounted on the framing of a sliding door without interfering with door operation.

Still another object of the invention is to provide such a door snugger which may be easily mounted on existing sliding doors or on new installations.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a typical structure provided with a pair of track-hung sliding doors of the type with which the snugger device of the present invention is used;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view on an enlarged scale viewing the doors of FIG. 1 from the inside of the structure and showing in the center a snugger apparatus snugging the pair of sliding doors against one another, showing at the left a snugger apparatus snugging the outer edge of one door against an adjacent part of the door frame, showing at the right a snugger apparatus with the flexible connector disconnected from one of the snugger rods;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view on the same scale as FIG. 2 and taken substantially as indicated along the line 33 of FIG 1 or FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view on the same scale as FIG. 2 and taken substantially as indicated along the line 4-4 of FIG. 1 or FIG. 2;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are elevational views at right angles to one another of a 90 twisted S hook which is used as the detachable attaching means for one end of the flexible connector;

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of a lap link which is used as the attaching means for the other end of the flexible connector;

FIG. 8 is a front elevational view of the lap link of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a blank from which a snugger rod mounting bracket is formed;

FIG. 10 is a front elevational view of a snugger rod mounting bracket; and

FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken substantially as illustrated along the line 11-11 of FIG. 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring first to FIG. 1, a structure of a type which may be used as a barn, garage or industrial storage building is indicated generally at and includes a front wall 21 in which there is a door opening 22 (see FIGS. 3 and 4). The door opening is flanked by upright supporting posts 23 and two-by-fours 24 which provide the sides of a door frame, and a hollow split tubular track 25 is mounted on the front wall 21 of the structure above the door opening 22. Rollers 26 in the track carry pendant hanger bolts 27 for a pair of sliding doors 28 and 29. As seen in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the doors 28 and 29 are identical; and they include, respectively, first vertical frame members 28a and 29a at adjacent ends of the doors,

second vertical members 28b and 2911 at the other ends of the doors, and horizontal frame members such as the top door frame member 29c in FIG. 4, the intermediate horizontal frame members 28d and 29d (FIGS. 3 and 4) and bottom horizontal frame members (not shown). The vertical and horizontal door frame members are exposed toward the interior of the structure, and mounted on the outer faces of the door frame members the doors 28 and 29 have metal or wood sheathing 28e and 292, respectively.

As illustrated in the drawings, the sliding doors 28 and 29 are provided with a first door snugger apparatus, indicated generally at 30, which snugs against one another first ends of the doors 28 and 29 which are defined by the adjacent vertical frame members 28a and 29a. In addition, the second end of the door 28 and a part of the structure that said second end is adjacent when the door is closed are provided with a second snugger apparatus 40 for snugging against the door frame the second end portion of the door 28 which is defined by the vertical frame member 28b. A third door snugger apparatus, indicated generally at 50, is positioned to snug the second end of the door 29 against the adjacent part of the structure. Except for the mounting of the various parts of the snugger apparatuses, all three of them are alike, and accordingly reference numerals 31 to 39 are applied to the components of the snugger apparatus 30 and corresponding reference numerals 41 to 49 and 51 to 59 are applied to the corresponding components of the second and third snugger apparatuses.

Referring now particularly to FIG. 2, for purposes of the present disclosure and claims the door 28 is considered to be a sliding door, while the door 29 is considered to be another part of the structure 20 against which the door 28 is snugged by the snugger apparatus 30. With this in mind, the first snugger apparatus 30' includes a pair of snugger rods of which a first rod 31 is mounted on the door 28 and a second rod 32 is mounted on the door 29. The first snugger rod 31 is mounted in a top bracket 33 and a bottom bracket 34 which will be described in detail, and the second snugger rod 32 is mounted in identical top and bottom brackets 35 and 36, respectively. Each of the brackets 33 and 35 is nailed to the vertical frame member 2811 or 29a, as the case may be; while each of the bottom bracket members 34 and 36 is nailed both to the horizontal frame member 28b or 29b and to the vertical frame member 2811 or 29a. A connector 37, which is preferably flexible an consists of a chain as shown, has at one end an attaching member 38 which is a ring that loosely surrounds the snugger rod 32, and has at the other end an attaching member in the form of a hook 39 that loosely and detachably engages the snugger rod 31. The attaching ring 38 is illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, while the attaching hook 39 is illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6.

As best seen in FIG. 2, each of the snugger rods 31 and 32 is mounted in a generally upright position in its supporting brackets, but the rods are inclined from the vertical so that their lower ends 31a and 32arespectively, are farther apart than their upper ends 31b and 32b, respectively. The angle of inclination of each of the snugger rods is 6 from the vertical, and as will be described the brackets 33-34 and 35-36 are so constructed that when mounted as illustrated in FIG. 2 they hold the rods at that angle. An included angle of 6 to 12 between the snugger rods is large enough to cause the force of gravity to slide the connector 37 and its attaching means 38 and 39 downwardly on the snugger rods 31 and 32 until they are stretched taut between the snugger rods as illustrated in FIG. 2. The hook 39 may be disconnected from the snugger rod 31 to open the doors by running the ring 38 and the book 39 up the rods until there is enough slack in the chain 37 to disengage the hook from the rod 31. The defined angular range is small enough that gravity also holds the connector and attaching means down when a force that tends to move the rods apart might slide them up the rods.

Referring now to FIGS. 9, l0 and 11, since all of the mounting brackets 33, 34, 35 and 36 are identical only the bracket 33 is described in detail and illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11. A blank 133 for forming the bracket is illustrated in FIG. 9, and consists of a rectangular piece of metal which, when formed into a bracket 33, affords a generally L-shaped member having a first arm 33a and a second arm 33b. The first arm 33a has three nail holes 330 punched in it, while the second arm 33b has a single nail hole 33c punched in it; and each of the arms is provided with a pair of snugger rod receiving holes which are indicated as 33d in the first arm and 33s in the second arm. The holes 33d in the first arm are formed on offset portion 33f so that, when a bracket is mounted in the position of brackets 34 and 36 in FIG. 2 the lower end 31a or 32a of a snugger rod may be inserted in the hole and rest upon the horizontal door frame member 28d or 29d, as the case may be.

The lengths of the bracket arms 33a and 33b and the locations of the holes 33d and 33:: are such that when an upper bracket 33 is mounted with its first arm 330 against a vertical door frame member 28a and a lower bracket 34 ismou'nted with its second arm 3311 against said vertical'door frame member, a snugger 'rod which has its 'upper end 31b in one of the holes 33e and its lower end 31a in one of the holes 33d is at the desired 6 angle to the vertical.

As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the second snugger apparatus 40 and the third snugger apparatus 50 are identically mounted on the doors 28 and 29, respectively, and on the main structure posts 23. The snugger apparatus 40 consists of a third snugger rod 41 which is mounted in a vertical position on upper and lower brackets 43 and 44 which, for this purpose, are mounted in identical positions upon the vertical door frame member 28b. A fourth snugger rod 42 is mounted on an upper bracket 45 and a lower bracket 46 which are secured to a post 23 in the manner illustrated in FIG. 4 for the brackets 55 and 56 of the third snugger apparatusi.e., with the upper bracket 45 closer to the door than is the lower bracket 46, so that the upper end of the fourth snugger rod 42 is closer to the snugger rod 41 than is the lower end of the snugger rod 42. A flexible connector 47 has an attaching ring 48 mounted on the third snugger rod 41 and has an attaching hook 49 detachably connected to the fourth snugger rod 42. Attaching the flexible connector permanently to the door permits it to be used for pulling the door against the structure. This is especially helpful in a wind. In order that the flexible connector 47 may not damage the building when the door is opened and closed, the hook 49 may be engaged in the extra hole of upper bracket 43 when it is not engaged with the rod 42.

No separate description of the third snugger apparatus 50 is given except to state that it has a fifth snugger rod 51 mounted on the door 29 and a sixth snugger rod 52 mounted on a post 23, and that a flexible connector 57 has a ring 58 connected to the sixth snugger rod 52 and a hook 59 connected to the fifth snugger rod 51.

Referring now to FIGS. and 6, the hook 39 which is used to attach the flexible connector to One of the snugger rods is an S hook of the type which has its two hook elements at right angles to one another. Thus, it has a first hook element 39a which is substantially closed and may be crimped around the end link of the chain which provides the flexible connector, and it has a second hook element 39b which may be engaged with a snugger rod and is at right angles to the hook element 39a. In addition, to cause the hook 39b to engage an inclined snugger rod at a desired angle the hook 39b is twisted approximately 30 about its longitudinal axis as seen at 39c.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, the connector ring 38 consists of a lap link having oppositely'facing hook portions 38a and 38b which are slightly spaced as illustrated in FIG. 7 so the end link of the chain which forms the flexible connector may be forced between the hooks for attachment to the lap link.

Although the snugger apparatus is illustrated only as applied to double sliding doors, it is apparent that it is equally advantageous on a single sliding door; in which case there are snugger apparatuses like those numbered 40 and 50 in the drawings, and they are mounted to sung the two ends of the door against fixed parts of the structure.

The foregoing detailed description is given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, as modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for snugging a sliding door of a structure comprising, in combination:

a pair of snugger rods including first and second rods having upper and lower ends, said rods being mounted in generally upright positions respectively, on the inside of a sliding door and on a part of a structure which the first rod is adjacent when the door is closed, at least one of said pair of snugger rods being inclined a few degrees from the vertical so that the lower ends of the rods are farther apart than their upper ends;

a connector the length of which is less than the distance between the lower ends of the rods and greater than the distance between the upper ends of the rods;

and attaching means at the two ends of said connector mounting the latter slidably on the pair of snugger rods,

the total angular deviation of said two rods from th vertical being such that gravity first causes the connector and attaching means to slide downwardly on the snugger rods until the connector and attaching means are taut to snug the door against said part of the structure and that gravity then holds them down, at least one of said attaching means being detachable from the rod on which it is mounted.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which there is a pair of sliding door which have first ends that are adjacent one another when they are closed and which have second ends, and in which the first and second snugger rods are mounted on said doors near said first ends to snug said doors against one another.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 in which a second pair of snugger rods includes third and fourth rods which are mounted, respectively, near the second end of one of the doors and on a fixed part of the structure which said third rod is adjacent when the door is closed, and in which a connector and attaching means detachably connect said third and fourth rods to snug said second end of said door against said fixed part of the structure.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 in which a third pair of snugger rods includes fifth and sixth rods which are mounted, respectively, near the second end of the other of the doors and on a fixed part of the structure which said fifth rod is adjacent when the door is closed, and in which a connector and attaching means detachably connect said fifth and sixth rods to snug said second end of said other of the doors against said fixed part of the structure.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 in which the pair of doors close with their first ends abutting, and in which the first and second snugger rods are parallel to the faces of said doors and are both inclined relative to said first ends.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the second rod is mounted on a fixed part of the structure.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 which includes rod mounting bracket means for the first and second rods, said mounting bracket means including an upper bracket and a lower bracket for each rod.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 in which each mounting bracket is generally L-shaped with a first arm of the L having a rod receiving hole a predetermined distance from the angle of the L and a second arm of the L having a rod receiving hole a shorter distance from said angle, and the relationship between said holes being such that with an upper bracket mounted with the second arm horizontal and a lower bracket mounted directly below the upper bracket with the first arm horizontal, a rod with its upper end in the hole in the second arm and its lower end in the hole in the first arm is supported at a desired angle from the vertical.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 in which the first arm has an offset portion and the hole i in said portion.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 in Which the door has exposed interior vertical and horizontal frame members facing the structure and external sheeting on the frame members and in which the first snugger rod is mounted on said frame members in a plane generally parallel to the sheeting.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 which includes a pair of identical generally L-shaped brackets, one of which is mounted on a vertical frame member and has a short arm extending generally horizontal and the other of which is mounted on a horizontal frame member below said one bracket and has a long arm extending generally horizontal, there being holes in said arms which are spaced different distances from said vertical frame memher, and in which the first snugger rod has its upper and lower ends positioned in said holes to mount it at a desired angle to the vertical.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the connector is flexible.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS J. KARL BELL, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 49222, 449 

